Spring Cedars is honored to announce that Mitchie the Service Dog Gets a Job!, written by Diane Petrozzo and illustrated by Lauren Zurcher, has been listed as a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. After evaluation by a group of judges, Mitchie the Service Dog Gets a Job! was chosen as one of the top six books in the Children's Animals/Pets category.

Each year, the NGIBA brings in judges with long standing careers in the publishing industry to read and evaluate the submitted books.

"The Next Generation Indie Book Awards is the largest International awards program for indie authors and independent publishers. In its seventeenth year of operation, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards was established to recognize and honor the most exceptional independently published books in 80+ different categories, for the year, and is presented by Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group in cooperation with Marilyn Allen of Allen Literary Agency (formerly the Allen O'Shea Literary Agency).”

All of the proceeds from submissions into the competition go back into the author community through the awards handed out to the grand prize winners. Both the winners and finalists are given the opportunity to help grow their reach and share the outstanding works submitted to the contest with a larger audience.